


Yearbook Signings

by ClockRepair



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23655661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockRepair/pseuds/ClockRepair
Summary: The shy Hyuuga heiress found herself in a troubling dilemma: attempting to write something to her dream man AND his best friend. But the weird part was, she was having greater difficulty writing to Sasuke than Naruto. Eventually, words are misinterpreted and Hinata ends up carrying out a very questionable mission.
Relationships: Hyuuga Hinata/Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruko
Kudos: 35





	1. Write at the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Originally two separate stories published two years apart. Making this into one multi-chaptered story here.
> 
> Previously posted on ff.net. I am moving my favourite stories onto AO3. Any changes to old stories are minor and will not impact the overall story. Mostly fixing up grammar and spelling, breaking up run-on sentences, and changing anything that I thought was weird. Some stories were written about ten years a go.

The end of the school year was nearing, which brought on two stressful activities:

1.) Studying for upcoming exams that were worth thirty percent of the final grade.

And

2.) Scrounging around for last-minute signatures in yearbooks in a sad attempt to seem more popular and have more friends.

It was clear which activity required more attention if one wished to stay on top of the social ladder. And it was safe to say that it was one of the reasons why Hinata Hyuuga was feeling so discouraged. Besides the nice messages from her friends (Sakura, Ino, and Tenten), everyone else had written the repetitive phrase, “You rock, don’t ever change!” or the lame, not to mention thoughtless, “Have a good summer. I’ll see you in the Fall!” She wasn’t asking for anything complicated like a Shakespearean sonnet or a short story, but considering she had gone to school with the same kids since kindergarten, she was expecting some more creativity. Hinata had also noticed that there were some spelling errors in her name while others didn’t address her at all, which indicated that they didn’t know what her name was to begin with.

In summation, yearbook signings really sucked.

But it got worse.

Earlier that day, Hinata did something extremely out of character. She had gathered up all of her courage and confronted Naruto, red faced and all, in front of his large circle of friends. She managed to ask Naruto if he would sign her yearbook after about forty years of stuttering. Being the friendly guy he was, Naruto happily agreed, but mentioned how he had others to sign as well. He pointed to the large stacks of yearbooks behind him as if she didn’t believe him. He asked her if it was alright if he took her yearbook home and return it to her the following day. Hinata nodded, since she wasn’t accustomed to conversing with her long-time crush for so long, but then Naruto did something completely unexpected. Before she could leave and possibly die from utter joy, he handed Hinata his yearbook to take home!

… but then he quickly shoved Sasuke’s yearbook in her face too.

Based on her bewildered expression, Naruto decided to explain himself.

“You see, Hinata, the things written in Sasuke’s yearbook are mostly from his _us_.” He emphasized the last word to get some acknowledgement from his friends, which they responded with hoots and hollers. “And then occasionally one of his several admirers so there are a fair amount of blank spots in there. Since Sasuke’s not here today and didn’t notice that I stole it, go ahead and take it and write something nice. I think he’ll appreciate it."

Naruto’s last remark received another response from his friends, but they weren’t as spirited as before. They were snickering, some even laughed. Hinata shot them a suspicious look, feeling she was being set up for something, but by the innocent and eager expression on Naruto’s face, she decided to overlook his friends’ strange reactions.

And this was how the shy Hyuuga heiress found herself in her current dilemma: attempting to write something to her dream man _and_ his best friend. Hinata was at a loss so she decided to heed the wise words of her older cousin. Neji once told her that if she tackled the most difficult obstacle first, she would see that it wasn’t as difficult as she originally thought, and she would be able to breeze through the rest of her tasks. At the time, he was advising her on her martial arts training, but Hinata thought his advice could be applied in this kind of situation too. So she decided to start with Naruto’s yearbook and once his was done, she would move on and proceed onto Sasuke’s.

Her plan was going efficiently until, by some divine intervention, it backfired on her halfway through. At first, she was planning to admit her crush on Naruto but regretted the idea after realizing that if he didn’t reciprocate her feelings, it would be permanently engraved into his yearbook. So she settled for mentioning the fun times she had when they were assigned as biology partners. The message to Naruto had been surprisingly easy to write, a tad dorky, but she wrote it without any complications. On the other hand, thinking of something to say to Sasuke Uchiha was a whole other issue.

Honestly, what do you say to the most popular/athletic/intimidating/intelligent guy in school and who else knew what other titles he had under his belt? All she knew about the Uchiha was that he’s totally anti-social. The only reason why he was acquainted with so many people is because he was best friends with Naruto. That and the fact that girls worshipped the very ground he walked on.

Either way, she was experiencing a bad case of writer’s block since she spent the past half hour staring at a blank page. Hinata couldn’t help but sigh. If her father knew what she was really doing in her room instead of studying, Hiashi would have a total fit.

Thinking about her family, she remembered that Neji wasn’t too fond of Sasuke and had absolutely refused to explain the reason behind his distaste for the boy. He just mumbled about “the hair incident” and Hinata never quite understood what that meant.

After another five minutes had slowly passed without any progress, Hinata was ready to call it quits. She couldn’t get any ideas. After all, she hardly associated with the boy or had any classes with him! How did Sasuke’s friends or his admirers ever come up with something to say? As Hinata thought about this more and more, she decided to take a small peep at the other messages people had written. For creative reasons, obviously. And it would only be an invasion of privacy if someone found out, right? Right.

So if she just happened to have the yearbook on her lap and she just happened to flip over the pages, accidentally of course (“Whoops!”), and just happened to read a small excerpt, then surely no one would mind.

* * *

Hmm, someone had put together a poem.

_Ode to my beloved Sasuke,_

_I first met you when you bought that latte._

_I would watch you from a distance,_

_Until you spotted me and found me to be of a hindrance._

_Now you don’t go to that coffee shop anymore,_

_So goodbye to the person I most adore._

_A freestyle verse by Yukari S._

Now most people would judge or mock this Yukari person, but Hinata was above them. She admired the girl for possessing so much confidence that she would risk humiliating herself to her crush a second time around.

* * *

Next!

_Ur hawt! Luv ya, bitch!_

_Call me!_

_XOXOXOX_

_Love, Midori_

Even Hinata, the politest individual a person could ever find during a time of need, could not defend this girl. For one thing, her grammar put basic education to shame and wasn’t she aware that advertising her phone number in random places gave off the wrong impression? Hinata also noticed the lipstick marks where Midori had kissed the page and refused to comment on that.

* * *

_Hey Sasuke,_

_I’m really sorry about Akamaru biting your leg the last time you came over. I usually take him out on walks to the lake. You know the one with all of the ducks? Well, he likes to chase them around so I guess with your hairstyle… well you know what I’m implying. Anyway, we’ve known each other since middle school and we’ve never had a single fight yet. And will you share some of the love already? For God’s sake, you have every girl wrapped around your finger! Well maybe except for the one! But knowing you, you’ll win her over with your non-existent charm and sense of humor. Kidding! But in case she does reject you, please don’t act more angst-ridden than you already are. (I’m serious.)_

_Kiba & Akamaru _

Hinata giggled at the sight of the crudely drawn happy face with its tongue sticking out at the end of Kiba’s final sentence. Seemed like Sasuke had a crush on someone. It was weird. Hinata couldn’t imagine the type of girl Sasuke would be attracted to.

Silent and tough like Temari? No, she was already going out with Shikamaru, much to Ino’s dismay, and he was one of Sasuke’s friends so Sasuke would never make a move on her.

Intelligent and talented like Tenten? No, Hinata had the firm belief that Tenten and Neji had some kind of spark between them, as crazy as it sounded. According to Hanabi, they had a “lil’ somethin’ somethin’ going on.” By the way her younger sibling’s dark eyebrows kept rising whenever she said “somethin’ somethin’,” it was probably an act that Hinata’s virgin mind couldn’t comprehend.

Pretty and sociable like Sakura? Hinata could imagine their couple name right now: Saskura Uchino. You know, like how the media liked to combine a celebrity couple’s names together, like Brangelina or Bennifer? But enough about pop culture.

* * *

_Dear Jerkass,_

_Since you avoid this time of the year like the plague, I’ve taken the liberty to get people to sign this for you! So in about thirty years when you’re middle aged and probably going bald, you’ll remember your former youth! Oh crap, I just sounded like Rock Lee, didn’t I? Since we’ve became friends, we’ve shared everything: classes, food, memories (as cheesy as that sounds), and even our first kiss! I know we promised never to bring it up again, but I think it was a kiss between brothers. Does that make sense, or is that worse?_

_Well, what can I say? We’re like brothers in the sense that we argue like girls and beat each other up constantly. It’s not the most functional friendship ever, but it works out for us. And I bet my lunch money at Ichiraku’s that you’ve stopped reading this or started rolling your eyes. Because I know you so well, I’ll just go ahead and say this, “Get that stick out of your ass and get a girlfriend or do I have to play matchmaker and make her come to you?” Again, I know you too well so the answer to my own question would be a solid YES!_

_Naruto_

Hinata didn’t want to comment on Naruto’s writing skills or lack thereof. Naruto had a strange way with words. Let’s just leave it at that.

But as Hinata skimmed the rest of Sasuke’s yearbook, she found the girls’ messages were pathetic or creepy, or pathetic and creepy, while the guys were oddly vague. With the exception of Naruto and Kiba. How helpful. She read every excerpt and now the prolonged exposure to the combined stupidity of Sasuke’s friends and groupies would probably cause her brain to implode. She didn’t know anymore about Sasuke then she did at the beginning!

With a reluctant sigh, Hinata figured that her scarce knowledge about Sasuke was probably what he would like. He resented the attention he got from his fan girls so why should shy pry into his personal business – well any further –and try to understand him better? For the first time in an hour and a half, Hinata picked up her pen and flipped to a blank page to write.

* * *

For once, Sasuke Uchiha was feeling fairly content. Every time some admirer aaproached him, he could truthfully say, “I’m sorry but I’ve misplaced my yearbook.” And then the girl would run away and wouldn’t pester him again… until the next one approached him. It wasn’t much, but whenever Sasuke had time alone, he counted it as a blessing.

“Oi, Sasuke!”

Unfortunately, his blessings had just run out.

“Where were you yesterday?” Naruto asked, jogging up to his buddy. “You missed a lot!”

“I was sick,” Sasuke mumbled, patting his abdomen. “I had a twenty-four-hour flu.”

“You suck at lying but that’s not the point. Yesterday, Hinata asked if I could sign her yearbook, but I told her I had others to sign. So I took it home and look at what I have here!” Naruto positively beamed when he pulled the book out of his backpack and showed it to Sasuke. “I already wrote in it and now you can too. So what are you waiting for? Take it! Take it!”

“Naruto,” Sasuke hissed. “I don’t sign yearbooks. Why do you think I’m going to start now?”

Naruto lowered his voice and whispered in his friend’s ear. “Because the yearbook belongs to your first true love!”

“She is not my first love!”

“So she’s your first _true_ love!”

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

What a shocker, their small argument lead to a physical altercation. Although by a third person’s point of view, it appeared to be a badly choreographed wrestling match. The pair would’ve gone on hitting each for hours if Hinata didn’t arrive. Clearing her throat, the two boys stopped and pulled apart.

“Hinata, did you finish with our yearbooks?” Naruto asked, if the fight hadn’t occurred, in his typical loud, booming voice.

_Our yearbooks?_ thought Sasuke, straightening out his clothes and hair. _What else did the moron do while I was absent?_

On closer inspection, Sasuke saw that the two items clutched to Hinata’s chest were indeed yearbooks. At Naruto’s words, she blushed and gingerly returned them to their respective owners. Naruto opened his immediately and started reading. Sasuke just held onto his and stared at Hinata, making her nervous under his intense gaze.

“Awww thanks, Hinata! Being science partners was fun even if I did occasionally blow stuff up!”

“You’re welcome,” she whispered, wringing her hands together. “Um… did you happen to finish with my yearbook yet?”

“Sorry, I’m almost done. I’ll get it back to you by lunch if you can wait a little longer.”

“Yes, that’s fine! Bye Naruto. Sasuke.”

Naruto waved after her before turning back to his friend. “So will you write something back to her or not?”

Sasuke ignored the question and opened up his own yearbook and flipped through the pages of nonsense and scribbles until he found the Hyuuga’s neat handwriting.

* * *

_Sasuke,_

_I’ve never had a class with you, so I hope we have one together next year. Everyone writes that, but I actually mean it because I hear a lot of great things about you, but I’ve never had the chance to talk to you myself. If we have the same class next year, maybe I’ll get the opportunity._

_Hinata Hyuuga_

_P.S._

_Whoever that girl is, I’m sure she feels the same way._

* * *

“Sasuke? Sasuke! SASUKE! Are you listening? Are you going to write something or not?”

“Yeah,” he said, closing the cover. “I’ll write something.”


	2. Dares and Underwear

Hinata slowly climbed over the fence separating the neighborhood from Naruto’s backyard, feeling mortified as she was about to carry out a very questionable mission. Just as she was about to jump over, she turned around to see her friends motioning her to continue.

Oh, how did it come to this?

* * *

Sakura, Ino, and Tenten were at Hinata’s house for a sleepover and, despite what males their age thought, they did not have naked pillow fights or anything of the sort. However, the current round of Truth or Dare did have Ino straddling Tenten, which did enter the realm of male fantasies from time to time…

The four teenagershad been playing the game for a good half hour and already had enough memories to laugh at, and possibly scar them, for a lifetime.

First, Sakura had to run across the street in only her bra and underwear, prompting a few hollers from a group of guys who just happened to turn the corner. She even made one guy on his bike crash into a street sign, which was an ego boost for Sakura, and sent an envious twitch to Ino’s eye. It was all in good fun, but there was a slight panic when the neighbors were calling to see if Hinata wanted them to call the police after Tenten had locked Sakura out of the house for a good laugh. The pink-haired girl did not think it was funny and was screaming bloody murder to get back in and retrieve her clothing.

It took a lot of persuading on Hinata’s end of the line to convince her neighbors that Sakura was not a threat to the neighborhood and to please, please, _please_ not tell her father about this when he returned from his business trip. Hinata was never able to host such a gathering and she wanted to know if this was her first and last opportunity to do so, the memory wouldn’t be ruined by a series of groundings.

Afterward, Ino had to dial what she thought was Iruka-sensei’s number and ask the older man out on a date. Instead of hearing the cheerful voice of her former teacher, Ino heard the effeminate, creepy voice of Oorochimaru the eleventh grade math teacher. And was that Kabuto the teaching assistant in the background? Ino immediately hung up after she was certain she heard something like a breathless pant and the girls swore they would never speak of the situation again.

And of course there was Tenten. She was dared to get a wedgie. Hence, the image of Ino straddling the curvy brunette that would make a boy’s dream come true… if it weren’t for the clawing, thrashing, and harpy yelps.

“Stop moving, Bunhead, this is your dare!”

“Yeah, but we all agreed that it was Hinata who would do it, not you!” Tenten let out a loud scream when Ino’s manicured nails, or harpy talons, made a swipe for her backside. “ _You’re going to kill me!_ ”

“Hinata’s too nice; she won’t give you a proper wedgie!”

As Tenten managed to turn the feisty blonde over on her back, Sakura decided to end the wrestling match by slipping her hand down the back of Tenten’s sweatpants and gave the elastic band a fierce tug. The scream that emanated from Tenten’s mouth would have made Neji’s ears turn red if he wasn’t away with Hiashi.

As Tenten was howling in pain while Sakura and Ino were laughing at her expense, Hinata had to answer yet another phone call. Although the frequent interruptions from her nosy neighbors did irritate the Hyuuga heiress, she wouldn’t have changed a single thing about this night.

But then again, this was before her next round of Truth or Dare.

“Truth or Dare, Hinata?” asked Tenten with a grimace, still rubbing her backside.

“Truth,” she said, eliciting groans from all of her friends. “What’s wrong?”

“Hinata,” said Sakura, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’ve been choosing Truth for the entire game! You gotta choose Dare at some point or another.”

“Besides, your Truths are kind of boring.”

“Ino!” yelled Sakura, as she watched Hinata’s shoulders slump.

“What? Considering you’re under the constant surveillance of your strict dad, you don’t have any chances to do anything wild. That’s what I meant,” added Ino, sticking her tongue out at her best friend in the process.

“But I don’t know what I would do. And I don’t even think we can do anymore Dares with my neighbors calling us.”

Hinata’s statement had the girls ready to call off the Dares and just stick with Truth. Although it was a pretty boring game since the only Truths worth hearing were mainly about how far you’ve gotten with someone. But Hinata didn’t do anything, Tenten’s relationship with Neji was experiencing its “are-we-dating-or-are-we-not?” phase, Sakura was too much of a prude, and Ino, despite her loud mouth, was a person who followed the “don’t kiss and tell” rule. The girls were about to call the game off altogether if it wasn’t for Tenten.

The older girl had grabbed Hinata’s yearbook out of sheer boredom and began flipping through her comments. She skipped the dull comments from some of Konoha High’s less than creative students but, after seeing a particular messy scrawl in the corner, she brought it up for attention.

“Hey Hinata, you never told us that Naruto wrote in your yearbook!”

Sakura and Ino immediately ran over to Tenten, making grabs for the yearbook to read its contents. Sakura beat Ino to the book and had to sit there ever so patiently until her friend gave her the goods.

“Hinata, when did Naruto ask you for your yearbook?” asked Ino excitedly. Finally, their quiet friend might have a love life!

“Actually, I-I-I asked him!” sputtered Hinata, her old stutter suddenly making a comeback. She had been hard at work trying to keep her nerves in check because she wanted to start her senior year as the new Confident Hinata. Clearly, she was far from getting rid of it entirely.

‘“ _Hey Hinata, what’s up? It’s been a fun year and I know you’ll have lots more fun during the summer because you’ll never know when that one special guy just might make a move!_ ”’ Sakura read aloud, making Ino and Tenten squeal. “Hinata, don’t you know what this means? I think that knucklehead finally realized your feelings for him!”

“Are you sure? I thought he was just talking about a general guy.”

“No, it’s definitely his way of saying that he likes you,” said Tenten. “Has he done anything lately that’s been out-of-character?”

Hinata took a moment to think about it and she remembered the whole ordeal of signing Naruto’s and Sasuke’s yearbooks a few weeks prior. But afterward, there was just a blur of study sessions for her exams and there was absolutely no recollection of seeing the vibrant blonde or his moody best friend during that time.

“Not in particular,” Hinata mumbled, forcing her nervous stutter back. “I haven’t seen him since the summer started.”

“Hinata, what if you missed your chance? You won’t have a viable excuse to “accidentally” run into him for two months!”

Sakura was ready to pummel Ino when she saw Hinata’s shoulders slump for the second time that night when Tenten, once again, broke the tension.

“Hey guys, I think there’s a way that we can have our cake and eat it too. And all it’ll take is sweet, little Hinata to perform our last big Dare of the night.”

“Tenten,” warned Hinata, as sternly as she could sound. “Remember that one more phone call from my neighbors could mean an early return from my father and our fun cut short.”

“The school year just ended, Hinata, and Naruto did say that you’ll have fun during the summer. This might be your last chance if you don’t do something quick,” Tenten said, conveying a motherly voice that would haven been used to encourage a child who needed a bit more confidence. Then as quickly as that tone came, Tenten’s voice grew mischievous as she continued with her explanation, “Besides, don’t worry about a thing because this dare will take place across Konoha where no one will know we’re there.”

By the devilish grin that grew on Tenten’s face, Hinata wasn’t the only one who was nervous to hear what on earth the supposed “mature” one of their group was planning. As they got ready for the most spontaneous night of Hinata’s life, the four girls left the yearbook open on her bed. The neglected book was left on an angle and as it fell to the floor, it happened to flip to the next page where a single comment written by an entirely different person had been left unread for the past few weeks.

* * *

Kiba’s breath was caught in his throat as Sasuke’s words finally registered. Out of everyone, why did the Uchiha have to confide his secrets in him? Especially now of all times?

Sasuke and Kiba were crashing at Naruto’s place for the weekend (and _not_ having a sleepover) when the boys got carried away and Naruto got a carton of sour milk poured over his head. Sasuke was disgusted by the chunky curds sliding off his friend’s head, the contrast of the sunny shade of Naruto’s hair making the milk’s tinge of yellow appear green. However, out of the three, Kiba was the most disgusted. His keen sense of smell made the foul stench unbearable and the mere sight of the goop on Naruto’s head made him want to vomit.

Before there was a second mess to clean up, Naruto didn’t hesitate for once about taking a long, hot shower. As Naruto got farther and farther away from Kiba, the dog-lover started to feel better albeit only a little. Sasuke started to awkwardly pat him on the back as he gagged, but Kiba could tell there was something up with his friend even when he was sick to his stomach. It wasn’t the action that caused him to raise an eyebrow, but the look on Sasuke’s usual stone-cold face. There was something in his eyes that said he was distracted.

He asked him what was wrong and Sasuke didn’t dare say a word until he heard the _click!_ of the bathroom door being locked. And that’s when the Uchiha dropped the bomb.

_Naruto is going to throttle you!_ thought Kiba. Sasuke gave out a frustrated grunt as if he knew what the Inuzuka was thinking.

“Dude,” Kiba said after a long silence. “You wrote ‘Hinata, you’re awesome just the way you are’? That’s just another variation of ‘You rock, don’t ever change.’ How the hell did you mess that up?”

Sasuke growled between clenched teeth, “I. Don’t. Know. Okay?”

“So what have you been telling Naruto this whole time? He was devastated when you and Hinata didn’t get together,” Kiba paused before realization dawned on him. “He took the rejection harder than you did!”

“I told him the truth. Part of it anyway. I said she never responded back to my message and I haven’t seen her since then.”

“…”

“…”

“You are such a _pussy_!”

That comment started a whole chain of snide remarks. After all, not only did Kiba accuse him of not being man enough to express his feelings, the Uchiha knew how much the Inuzuka hated felines, which made the comment all that more insulting. When Naruto finally came out of the bathroom, stripped down to nothing but his birthday suit and a towel around his waist, he was completely confused. This was the first time Sasuke and Kiba had ever fought. Sure Kiba did have similar attributes to the outspoken, annoying Naruto, but Sasuke had a high tolerance for pretty much everyone who wasn’t a fan girl. What had changed now?

Naruto made his way down the hallway and into the living room to see what the hell was going on.

“I don’t think I have to listen to you insult me any further, you mutt!”

“You think you’re so cool, Sasuke, but do you know what would really shock people? If you cracked a smile, got a tan or maybe even wear clothes in pastels! Anything that would make you seem more like a normal teenager!"

“…Ugh, guys, what’s going on?”

The two teens stopped quarrelling for a moment when they finally noticed Naruto’s presence. Then they looked at each other, turned in opposite directions with a grunt, and refused to speak until the other boy did first. Naruto looked back and forth between the two anxiously wondering what had happened while he was gone.

Suddenly, there was a huge crash that made everyone jump. It sounded like it came from the backyard.

“Now what’s happening?” Naruto muttered irritably. He was heading towards the back door when Sauske pushed him out of the way.

“I’ll go check what’s going on, moron. You probably have raccoons or something with all of this food lying around and I don’t think you can take on a wild animal in a towel.”

The last thing Sauske heard before the door shut was Naruto making a fuss about how he’s never had an issue with raccoons before and Kiba ordering Naruto to put on some damn clothes.

Running a hand through his hair, Sasuke couldn’t help thinking to himself, _Well that was productive. I’m going to tell Kiba all of my problems from now on._

* * *

Hinata opened her eyes and felt the world spinning around her. She was trying to figure out where she was when she looked up and saw Tenten’s and Ino’s eyes over the fence.

“Hinata, are you okay?” asked Tenten.

“You know the saying, ‘look before you leap’? Well you kind of learned that lesson the hard way,” said Ino.

Hinata picked up her teetering head and realized that when she jumped over Naruto’s fence, she didn’t notice the huge garbage bins below her. The Hyuuga heiress had essentially thrown herself into a heap of rotting food. Luckily for her, none of the contents had actually gotten onto her clothes but the smell was undeniably gross. When she stood up to brush herself off and carefully stepped over the overflow of scattered food, Hinata wanted to punch something when she noticed that she could have had a safe landing in a giant bush if she had only fell back a few inches.

“I’m fine. Where’s Sakura?” Hinata asked, suddenly noticing someone missing from their group.

“I’m…down…here…!” wailed a faint voice that sounded like it came from the ground. Oddly enough, as the pathetic, little wail was voiced, Tenten’s and Ino’s faces fell out of sight and then suddenly reappeared again, just hovering over the fence.

“Sakura’s on all fours serving as our step-stool.” When Ino saw Hinata’s distressed face she waved it off as nothing. “Don’t look like that, she’s the strongest one out of the four of us. She can handle a little weight!”

Ironically, just as Ino said that, Sakura’s arms buckled and the girls disappeared from sight again. It took a moments for them to reassemble themselves and the next time Hinata saw her friends again, it was the faces of Ino and Sakura that she was seeing and not Tenten’s.

“Hinata, do you remember your dare?” asked Sakura.

How could she not?

Back at Hinata’s house Tenten’s grin grew more and more frightening until Sakura asked her what her plan was. That’s when Tenten dared Hinata to go to Naruto’s house and steal a pair of his boxers. If that wasn’t scandalous enough, she had to leave a flirty note that said, “ _It’s been a fun year and I know you’ll have lots more fun during the summer because you’ll never know when that one special girl will make her move! I’ve made mine but now it’s your turn._ ”

Yes, because nothing was sexier than breaking and entering, theft, and then leaving an incriminating note for evidence. Hinata was reluctant to do the dare and even Ino said it was a bit extreme but Tenten was adamant about the idea. Eventually Hinata caved because the note didn’t contain her name and, unless Naruto remembered what he wrote in her yearbook, which she highly doubted, he would never know it was her. With that being said, he’d probably be sound asleep when she got inside. Tenten, Sakura, and Ino might have teased her from time to time about Naruto’s lack of intelligence yet Hinata couldn’t have been happier that the object of her affections was slow-witted.

“Yes, I remember and I still have the note. It’s in my pocket.”

The girls were re-confirming her mission, like where to hide if she heard anyone coming or how to make a quick exit, and then a wave of fear went through them as the back door opened.

Sakura and Ino urged Tenten to let them down while Hinata dove into the bush and hoped that Naruto wouldn’t discover her.

Hinata heard footsteps approaching and she took a peek through the bush to see black converses had stopped abruptly at the garbage bags. She suppressed a gasp when she saw the shoes head towards the bush, but let out a sigh of relief when they went past her location. What was Naruto doing?

It was then that she heard the sound of three girls in pain.

* * *

Sasuke was inspecting the damage of Naruto’s backyard when he heard the distinct sound of feminine voices speaking. Or was that groaning he heard? Over the years, Sasuke had been chased after by countless fan girls who tried seducing him with their sweet words and vulgar promises. But this time, he was no where near intimidated by the fact that some of his fan girls were stalking him because he was just mocked by Kiba about his romantic troubles. If he could handle that, he could handle something as trivial as this.

He made a running jump for the fence and grabbed the top part of the furnished wood, lifting himself up to see who was on the other side. He thought he was going to deal with three young girls with skimpy clothing and hearts in their eyes when they saw him. Instead, he saw Sakura, Ino, and Tenten piled up on one another. And were they in their pajamas?

“Hn. You know, I knew Sakura and Ino used to have a thing for me but now Tenten? Wouldn’t Neji be so disappointed that his girlfriend’s feelings were waning?” he asked smugly.

“Ha ha, very funny,” said Tenten, disentangling herself from her friend’s limbs. “We were just walking through the neighborhood.”

“At 12 AM on a Saturday night across town?” Sasuke asked, not convinced by their lame attempt at an excuse.

“Think of it as a girls’ night out. We were walking by when this huge raccoon climbed over Naruto’s fence and scurried off! Don’t blame us for being a little startled,” Sakura said calmly. After she had gotten over her crush on Sasuke years ago, the two had sort of become friends. With that thought in mind, Sakura took it upon herself to do all of the talking so there was a better chance of the Uchiha believing them.

Sakura knew her excuse had credibility when Sasuke looked like he was actually considering her story. Inner Sakura was even punching the air in victory and letting out celebrative _Cha’s!_

“Fine. Whatever,” muttered Sasuke, as he let go of the fence and headed back towards the house.

From the other side of the fence, the girls could hear him swearing multiple times when he almost slipped from something oozing out of one of the bags. Eww.

“Wow, Sasuke usually never loses his cool that easily. I wonder if there’s something wrong,” said Tenten.

Sakura couldn’t help but agree.

“Guys, can’t you see the bigger picture? Hinata can’t possibly perform the dare with Naruto AND Sasuke in there! He’s already in a bad mood and what if she gets caught? Naruto isn’t too bright but Sasuke will notice her for sure,” cried Ino.

“You’re right; we have to abort the mission. Hinata! Hinata, can you hear me?”

When Tenten’s call came unanswered, the girls got worried. Sakura climbed on all fours again and Tenten and Ino started coaxing Hinata to come out of the bush to leave.

There was still no reply.

“Oh no,” said Ino. “Do you think…?”

“She’s inside!” gasped Tenten, pointing at a window where they saw Hinata giving them a small wave.

At that moment, Tenten and Ino lost their balance again. But this time, it wasn’t because Sakura’s arms had given out on her.

What was Hinata thinking?


	3. Make Ups and Meet Ups

Hinata was surprised that her heart wasn’t going to leap out of her chest despite it beating like she had just ran a marathon. She didn’t even know how she gathered the courage to crawl out from the bush, dash across the backyard, scale the tree leading up to Naruto’s house, and go through the closest window. And with such stealth! Her friends hadn’t noticed a thing even though they were looking upwards while speaking to Sasuke. Hinata thought her friends would have surely seen her then although Sakura, Ino, and Tenten might have been distracted by Sasuke’s presence. After all, even Hinata got shaken up (more than usual) when the handsome Uchiha would give a glance in her direction.

Hinata felt her face flush and the warm sensation seemed to spread throughout her whole body. She was surprised that she would react this way and put a hand on her forehead to see if it was just her imagination. When she pulled her hand back, there was some dampness there, but it wasn’t from sweat.

Feeling her way around the dark, Hinata thought against turning on the lights, and waited a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the dark. When she was focusing all of her attention on getting inside the house, she didn’t even think about which room she would enter. As she made herself more familiar with her surroundings, she realized she had entered Naruto’s bathroom window. And the reason why she felt damp and hot was a result of someone’s very long shower, not because of the Uchiha.

Even with the steam leaving the window, Hinata felt suffocated and stuck her head out to cool herself down.

 _For a second there, I thought I actually felt something for Sasuke…_ Hinata thought, shaking the idea out of her head. It was ridiculous. Hinata was not that fickle and the sooner she could find Naruto’s boxer shorts (the oddity of her mission became more apparent to her as she thought of this), the faster she could leave.

Taking a step back, she stumbled upon a bundle of clothes and wondered how she hadn’t tripped over them before. That’s when the light bulb in her head clicked and she started to go through the discarded clothing to see if it belonged to Naruto. First, she had to sift through a shirt with a disgusting substance on the collar. If she had to guess, the person who was previously using the bathroom was most likely trying to scrub this off of their skin. Throwing the dirtied shirt off to the side with a grimace, she picked up the cargo shorts and carefully pulled out a pair of boxers with the very tips of her fingers.

With closer inspection, the boxers were clean – thank God – and were definitely the property of one Uzumaki Naruto. Now Hinata wasn’t a stalker but she did have a good memory. She remembered that one time in science class where Naruto had pissed off the exchange student, Kankuro, for his accent and the foreigner had returned Naruto’s kindness by pantsing him when the teacher’s back was turned. Even if Hinata didn’t possess a stupendous memory, who could forget a pair bright, green boxers adorned with little, pink frogs?

With her dare half done, she stuffed her prize into her back pocket and decided that since there wasn’t anyone roaming through the hallways, she could take a small detour to snoop around. After all, how often was it that she was in her crush’s house?

She couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty over opening Naruto’s medicine cabinet. Ever since she had read some of the more personal entries in Sasuke’s yearbook, her curiosity about her long-time classmates seemed to grow. And what was the harm in a little peeking if no one found out?

Reaching for a bottle of body spray that had caught her eye, Hinata sprayed some in the air and took a deep whiff. She quickly regretted her decision as she tried to smother her coughs caused by the pungent odor. Turning the bottle of body spray around so she could fully read the label, Hinata made a face.

Since when was Naruto a devoted consumer of _Axe_?

* * *

When Sasuke returned, Kiba was watching some martial arts movie in the living room by himself. Inclining his head, he turned his attention to the approaching boy.

“So what was making all that racket?” asked Kiba in a bored tone.

“Raccoons and…fan girls,” answered Sasuke, shuddering a bit at the end.

If given the choice, Sasuke would rather face a violent case of rabies than over-stimulated fans any day. Girls were just too unpredictable and anything they would give him couldn’t be fought off with a couple of needles and bed rest.

“What? They followed you all of the way here?” Kiba looked astonished and mildly frightened as the Uchiha went to take the seat beside him. “Damn, I used to be jealous of you because of all the attention you got from girls but…it’s _just not worth it_.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and the two watched the movie without going further into the conversation.

Now here’s a social studies lesson: It’s easier for boys to kiss and make up after an argument. Boys might not communicate their thoughts as coherently as their counterparts but underneath their dull and idiotic conversation, they’re secretly apologizing to each other.

After a few minutes of ass-kicking goodness, Sasuke swallowed his pride and initiated the apology.

“So where’s Naruto gone?” Sasuke suddenly asked. (Translation: Have you told him about my secret?)

“He’s somewhere around the house looking for clothes. You know how negligent he can get sometimes about housework,” replied Kiba. “But when you left, I told him the reason why you were so moody is because you’re on your period.” (Translation: No, I didn’t tell him anything, that’s why he’s not here yelling at you for being a dumbass. This joke insinuates that everything is fine between us.)

“Hn.” (Translation: Thanks, bro. And I’m sorry.)

A loud _Kya!_ came from the star of the film as he did a back spin and knocked the amateur assassin into a wooden cart.

Both boys started to chuckle. (Translation: expression of shared inner joy!)

This is the end of the social studies lesson.

However, the bromance ended when the pheromones from Kiba and Sasuke’s brotherly camaraderie went away, meaning that a hidden smell was ready to trigger Kiba’s overly sensitive nose. Kiba noticed it within an instant and taking a couple of whiffs, his nose pointed in the direction of Sasuke as the source of the bad scent.

“Dude, did you _dive_ into the garbage while you were out there?” asked Kiba, pinching his nose in the process.

Sasuke looked perplexed. He didn’t go anywhere near the stuff to actually have touched it – oh wait, yes he did. When he was heading back to the house, he had slipped in something.

Lifting up one of his shoes, he could see a dark substance clinging to his sole. When Kiba’s eyes made contact with the substance, he instantly looked back at the living room entrance and blanched. While he was making his way back, Sasuke had tainted the better part of Naruto’s house with his dirtied footsteps, leaving a smell that didn’t hit them until now.

Kiba let out a shrill, uncharacteristic shriek. “First Naruto and now you! I think you guys just want to kill me or something!”

“Kiba, relax, I’ll just clean it up!”

“No, I’ll stay here and clean this up because with your brilliant spatial awareness, you’ll probably let that idiot walk in it too and spread it around even more! Now take off your sullied shoes and take them upstairs to wash. _Or burn_ ,” Kiba shook his head like that still wasn’t a solution. “You know what, just go upstairs and take a shower. Just give me enough time to get rid of this!”

And then Kiba jabbed his index finger accusingly at the dirty footprints like it was going to attack him. Sasuke didn’t question his friend’s state of being and complied without complaint.

As Sasuke went upstairs barefoot, Naruto had just entered the scene and was being ordered by Kiba to retrieve cleaning supplies. Kiba let out a high pitched scream, as if he had been kicked in the balls, when Naruto proceeded to explain how his cleaning supplies were currently M.I.A.

When he had retrieved his towel and a change of clothes, Sasuke went one door down to the bathroom.

His skin was met with a cold breeze from the opened window and Sasuke went to close it. He was beginning to think his best friend was developing an early case of Alzheimer’s with all of the simple tasks he was forgetting to do. So far these were the things Naruto had failed to finish: wash his clothes, throw out food, and take out the garbage on the proper day so he wouldn’t have to let it build up in his backyard. Now it was the open window. What next?

 _What is he thinking, keeping it open like this? Someone could break in and he wouldn’t even know it,_ thought Sasuke.

He brushed the shower curtain aside with just enough room for his hand to slip in, turning on the water, and began slipping out of his shirt. Just as his jeans fell to his ankles, Sasuke thought how great it would be to take a shower and let the water drown out all of the noise and wash away his stress. That was when he pulled the entire shower curtain to one side.

And let out a more girly scream than Kiba could ever muster.

* * *

Sakura and Ino were stationed on the sidewalk and were trying their best to monitor their friend’s actions. They couldn’t see much of Hinata in the dark so they just made do with their situation. Tenten was off to McDonald’s because she had the prestigious duty of bringing them food. Even if they were across Konoha in the middle of the night, it was still a sleepover and that meant pigging out on junk food.

“What is she doing?” asked Ino. “She’s been in that room for the past fifteen minutes!”

Sakura squinted her eyes and tried to make out Hinata’s body through the small window. “Maybe she’s stuck and just keeping herself busy.”

“Well if that’s what she’s doing, she’s being pretty ballsy. Forget that, she was being ballsy when she got into Naruto’s house undetected with Sasuke _standing right there_. What’s gotten into her lately?”

“I don’t know, Ino, maybe it’s because you kept saying how she’s boring and this is her last chance to find love?”

“I already told you before, that wasn’t what I meant!” Ino was ready to have another tantrum but she opted for rolling her eyes and giving up on that argument. She had a point and she wasn’t going to let a small comment get her off track. “But you have noticed it, right Sakura? Hinata seems different from before.”

The pinkette turned to her friend and gave her an incredulous look. “What do you mean? Like in comparison to how she was when we started Truth or Dare?”

“No, changes don’t happen over night. I mean she’s been acting weird ever since exams were about to start. She’s been more…sure of herself. She convinced her dad to let her have a sleepover when he wouldn’t be able to watch us like a hawk like he usually does when we’re there. Then she was trying to lose her stutter and now this? And remember when Tenten was looking through her yearbook and she said that she asked Naruto to sign it? It’s Hinata, she’d never do that in a million years!”

“I guess that was her turning point. Do you think she’s doing this to get Naruto’s attention?”

“I don’t know. I brought it up for a reason. I’m not the braniac out of the group; you are with your giant forehead.”

“What did you say, Ino-pig?”

Ino was about to say something else when the voice of reason returned along with burgers and milkshakes.

“Guys, you’re supposed to be focusing on Hinata, not fighting with each other,” lectured Tenten as she handed Sakura and Ino their meals. “If you don’t keep tabs on her she could get into trouble and we couldn’t do anything to help her.”

“We can’t help her anyway. She’s inside on the top floor and we’re out here unable to warn her. But why? Oh right, because I’m pretty sure yelling really loudly in the middle of the street at night is a public disturbance,” said Ino, the lid on her drink ready to come right off by as she was speaking animatedly. 

Speaking of public disturbances, right at that moment, the faint cry of what sounded like a woman was heard.

All three sets of eyes went straight to the bathroom window.

“Ugh, I told you guys to pay attention!”

“But you weren’t paying attention either, Bunhead! You were trying to be mature like usual and tell us off!”

“That didn’t sound like Hinata at all…” Sakura said, taking a bite of her hamburger with a raised brow.

* * *

Sasuke was contemplating about jumping out of the window. He really, really was. Not only did he expose his half naked self to his crush, but he squealed in front of her too! His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when he saw her sitting there in shorts and part of her white t-shirt turning transparent from the shower.

It only dawned on him a second later about how Hinata wasn’t the only one who heard his less than manly scream when a worried holler of “Sasuke!” was heard from the other side of the door, followed by approaching footsteps.

Just as Naruto and Kiba burst through the door, Sasuke used his quick reflexes to close the shower curtain, hiding the Hyuuga heiress from view.

It was a real sight to see. Naruto was dressed in a strange outfit consisting of a Hawaiian shirt and shorts that were filled with way too many holes to be considered clothing, while Kiba entered the bathroom with a surgical mask, rubber gloves, an apron, and holding onto a Swiffer Wet Jet. And of course, our favourite little Uchiha was in his underwear looking rather anxious.

“Naruto, what are you wearing?”

“Hey, I couldn’t find any other clean clothes while I waited for the dryer!”

“But what’s the matter?” asked Kiba, swinging the Swiffer Wet Jet like he was ready to defend Sasuke’s honor from an invisible enemy. “What made you scream like that?”

Naruto started to laugh hysterically, “Yeah, I would have laughed sooner if I wasn’t so worried! For a second I thought you had a girl in here.”

“It was…” Sasuke’s eyes drifted over to the shower and wanted to sigh as his masculinity was taking yet another nose dive. “…it was a spider.”

Naruto laughed even harder than before at Sasuke’s reply, his face looking sunburned with the shade of red it was turning, and Sasuke could just sense that Kiba was muttering the word “pussy” in his head as he dragged Naruto out of the bathroom by the scruff of his tacky shirt.

As the two left, Sasuke ran to the door and locked it before going back to the shower curtain. Pulling it back very slowly, he wanted to make sure if Hinata was really there or if he had been imagining things.

She looked up at him from her spot with her big, innocent, pearl-like eyes and smiled very weakly. Despite the embarrassing situation, Sasuke wanted to burn this image into his memory forever.

“Hi,” she said, her voice as weak as her smile. “T-This…um, it isn’t what it looks like.”

Sasuke conditioned himself to sound aloof and uncaring like he usually did.

“It’s okay. Just get out of the bath tub.”

Hinata sat there for another few seconds as if she was waiting for him to yell at her but was pleasantly surprised when she got up, and the Uchiha helped her when she almost slipped. The water from the shower head had been left on the entire time.

“Turn around.” She gave him a confused look until he handed over his other set of clothes to her. “You’re wet and cold and I’m half naked. I don’t think you want me watching you change and I don’t think you want to watch me put on clothes.”

They changed with their backs turned, nothing but the rustle of clothes and the sound of water falling to fill in the silence.

“Aren’t you going to turn off the shower?” asked Hinata, trying to think or say anything that would stop her racing heart. Changing in the same room as Sasuke was making her face flush.

“No, with the water running, they’ll think I’m taking a shower when I’m actually talking to you,” he answered, turning around to face her (well, face to chest considering she was shorter) when she gave him the okay.

“Talk to me about what?” Even Hinata thought that sounded moronic but she didn’t want to just stand there like a mute.

“I saw Sakura, Ino, and your cousin’s girlfriend outside earlier. Now you’re here hiding out in my best friend’s shower.”

He bent over and Hinata wanted to step back when his face got too close. Then he reached around and tugged on a bright piece of fabric from her back pocket. Hinata could see a disturbed expression on Sasuke’s face and she wanted to smile. She usually saw him with an indifferent expression on his face and it seemed like his cool façade had been breaking all day.

“I can explain that too.”

But somehow she didn’t think “I was peer pressured into stealing men’s underwear” would suffice so she started from the beginning.


	4. Intimacy and Insanity

Somewhere in the Land of Sand, Neji was busy at work helping his uncle with his paperwork. That morning, as Hiashi left their meeting, the Sand businessmen had left him with piles of paperwork to complete with only one day's notice.

They were working hard throughout the night and had yet to reach any setbacks.

That was until Hiashi snapped his pen in half, mid-writing, sending ink flying across one of the more important documents and staining it black.

Neji was surprised at how calm his uncle was acting even though it would probably mean the old man doing an extra hour or two of work. Had the stress finally gotten to him?

"Uncle Hiashi," said Neji, watching the older man place his pulsing head in his calloused hands. "Is everything okay?"

"Neji, I just have the oddest feeling that there's a _boy_ with a wayward interest in one of my daughters and that he's sitting _very close to her_."

"Uncle Hiashi, Hanabi is at an all girls' summer camp and Hinata is in the safe company of Tenten and her other female companions. Surely nothing of that sort would happen," he reasoned.

Hiashi turned around in his computer chair to face the window and stare out into the scenery of the sandy city.

"Yes, but for some reason, my father's intuition is telling me that I need to castrate someone."

With that statement Neji flinched and desperately tried fending off the need to cross his legs. No man deserved such a fate.

Neji thought it was about time his uncle had a break when Hiashi wouldn’t budge from his seat and it looked like that frown line had become permanent.

And just in case, Neji decided that it would be a good idea to retrieve his uncle's medication while he was at it.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Hiashi’s assumption was not entirely off. Sasuke did have an interest in his daughter but it was not (totally) wayward and he was not sitting that close to her. Although for any father, any boy being in the proximity of his precious angel would be enough to earn him a good whack across the head, or in Hiashi's world, a good castration.

Hinata was fidgeting nervously in her seat against the bath tub while Sasuke sat like a statue across from her, his back against the bathroom sink. She was surprised to have him listen to her so acutely, making her even more nervous as she was trying to explain how Tenten convinced her to do the dare. And the fact that she was wearing the Uchiha's clothing did not help her in the least. Every once and a while, when his eye contact was more than she could handle, she'd stutter, and force it back so he wouldn't think she was a total loser.

After what felt like an eternity, Hinata was done with her explanation and waited for him to comment.

"So let me get this straight," was the first thing he said. "You're telling me that the reason why you broke into the bathroom…was to do a panty raid."

Well when he put it like that it just made Hinata sound creepy…

"Um…basically," she replied.

She could feel her face glowing with embarrassment and she hugged her knees to her chest, hoping the gesture would make her seem smaller than she was. However, the reaction she got was not one she was expecting as Sasuke started to chuckle. Hinata didn't know for sure since she'd never seen or heard Sasuke laughing out of amusement before.

"That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard but it's kind of funny," he said before starting to laugh again. "I'm just glad Naruto's the victim and not me."

Hinata didn't know what to say but she could feel the intensity of her blush decreasing. That was a good sign.

"So was that why Sakura, Ino, and Tenten were out there earlier? They were keeping watch for Naruto if he went into the bathroom?"

"Um…no. They were trying to see if I was alright. Y-You see, I leapt off the fence and crashed into the bins and kind of left a…a mess."

He looked at her with smirk. "So you were the raccoon they were telling me about. Except for scurrying off into the night, you scurried into the house to get _that_." And he jabbed his index finger in the direction of Naruto's off-patterned boxer shorts as it laid across Hinata's lap with her bundle of wet clothing.

"Yeah, I actually got into the house while you were talking to everyone."

Sasuke looked impressed and Hinata smiled faintly as she felt a strange sense of pride and accomplishment.

"So how did you get stuck in here anyways? I left the backyard a while back and that's about the time you got in."

"I kind of got distracted. I was just taking a small peep at his medicine cabinet."

She fidgeted again and hoped that Sauske wasn't judging her for being snoopy but unbeknownst to her, every time she glanced shyly at the floor or wringed the sleeves of his shirt from abashment, he thought it was the most adorable thing in the world. And he _was_ impressed with her. For not only being daring enough to break into the house he was residing in (any other person and he would have called the cops), but he was most impressed with her ability to talk to him like a normal person. And he had noticed from the start that she wasn't stuttering like she used to in social circumstances. This pleased him since she'd stutter while talking to practically everyone and he never imagined having a conversation with her that flowed so naturally. He never imagined having a conversation with anyone that could flow so naturally. Until now.

"Yeah, have you noticed how many _Axe_ _Body Spray_ bottles he has in there?" Sasuke asked. "It's disgusting, especially the amount of it that he puts on after gym."

"So what do you use if you don't like _Axe_?"

"I'm more of an _Old Spice_ guy."

For the first time, Sasuke saw a glimmer of intrigue (?) in Hinata's eyes that caught him off guard just before she announced, "Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back to your man, and now back to me. Sadly he is not me…"

And that's as far as she got before Sasuke had started to laugh again and she joined in. Hinata's too sweet voice just made the lines in the _Old Spice_ commercial sound even funnier.

Sasuke wondered if the water from the shower was drowning out their voices or Naruto and Kiba were going to think that he was crazy when he got out. He got up to open the door slightly, looking out to see if Naruto and Kiba were around. The two were down the hall in another room and Kiba was yelling at Naruto to purchase better cleaning fluid so that, and I quote, "You can actually get stains out without having to constantly scrub the floors for ten minutes!"

Nope, it didn't seem like they've noticed a thing.

And as he went back to his seat, it was as if Hinata had read his mind.

"So what are you going to tell them when you get out of the bathroom and you're not wet from the shower, or not wearing a new set of clothes?"

"I don't know. I'll make something up. They'll believe anything considering Naruto's an idiot and Kiba is busy freaking out over the mess I made downstairs." His gaze drifted off to the side for a moment before he realized something and looked back at her.

The sudden attention made her blush again.

"Why are you still here anyway? You have his boxers and it's not like I'm going to tell him where they went," he said, his tone became very sly all of a sudden as he continued. "Unless you're just making up this entire story in an effort to try and speak to me."

"No…well talking to you has been fun but…" She didn't mention the note she had to leave behind for Naruto because she didn't want him to think of her as a fan girl. Hinata knew from his yearbook comments how forward they were with their intentions and she didn't know what she would do if Sasuke lumped her in with a group of people he hated.

Sasuke was waiting for her to go on and after looking back at how understanding he had been, she decided it was safe to inform him.

"My dare is only half done," she said, her attention on the white bathroom tile between her feet. "After taking his boxers I have to leave a note behind in a place where Naruto will find it."

"What does the note say?" he inquired.

Though he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know the content considering it was the message his crush was going to give his best friend. But as he thought about it, it would hurt no matter how the message was worded. Naruto wouldn't do anything with Hinata because the blonde knew how much he liked her, and the thought of how disappointed she would be after Naruto would reject her depressed him.

Hinata said she couldn't remember what the note said word for word and reached into the pocket of her abandoned shorts. When Hinata had gotten caught in the shower, it was more than just her t-shirt that had gotten wet. When she pulled out the slip of paper, it was soggy and the words were incomprehensible. Sasuke was somewhat relieved. He didn't have to know the exact words Hinata would use to ask out Naruto just yet.

"I have to write another one or else I haven't completed the dare," she said urgently.

"Why, what's the penalty for not completing it?"

"S-S-Streaking the neighborhood."

Sasuke got up immediately and opened the door again to see if Naruto and Kiba were still there. There was no way in hell that some random guy or _anyone_ was catching a glimpse of Hinata in the buff.

"Come on, I can help you finish the dare," he said, turning off the shower, grabbing her hand and quickly leading her out of the bathroom.

* * *

"So what do we do now?" asked Ino. "She's been in Naruto's house for forever and I don't even think she's been in the bathroom for a while. Someone's obviously taking a shower in there by the looks of the steam fogging up the window and I'm pretty sure it's not her."

"This is why you should have been paying attention instead of arguing with each other! I knew I should have stayed behind but, no, you said I was the fastest runner so I _had_ to get food."

"Do you think we should try and get her ourselves?" offered Sakura.

"Don't be crazy, we can't break into the house!" screamed Tenten. "It's easier for Hinata because she's tiny and alone but if the three of us tried going in there all at once it'll be suicide."

"So why don't we go in at separate times?" asked Ino, sounding like she was actually considering Sakura's insane plan.

"And what would we do if one of us got Hinata? How are the other two supposed to know when to get out?"

"Text?" said Sakura, shrugging.

"Wow, I just realized this dare would have gone more smoothly if one of us gave our cell phones to Hinata. We could have been texting her this entire time!" exclaimed Ino.

Tenten was about to pull her buns off of her head from frustration.

"What are you guys talking about? We can't go in!"

"So what do you suggest Ms. I-Have-An-Answer-For-Everything?"

"I think we should just move to another side of the house where we will have better access to a window. Maybe we can see if Hinata is anywhere in one of the rooms and if Naruto or Sasuke sees us, we can just say that we got lost and came back."

It didn't take long before Sakura and Ino agreed with Tenten's plan and the three girls split up to cover different sides of the house.

However, someone had been watching them for a very long time and had gotten the wrong idea…

Across the street was Mrs. Sato, an elderly, retired woman who volunteered to as a crossing guard. She had woken up when her bladder was acting up again and through her front window, she saw three strange teenage girls in their jammies standing outside of Naruto's backyard. Now sweet Mrs. Sato had grown fond of Naruto for the times he had helped her carry her groceries and thought it was her duty to see what those female hooligans were up to.

When she saw them split up and go around different sides of his house, she grew alarmed.

"Oh dear, they're going to rob little Naruto! I must call the police!"

* * *

Nothing about Naruto particularly screamed CLEAN FREAK and Hinata was surprised to see how neatly his bed was made, how spotless his floor was, and how organized his bookshelf appeared to be.

When she went to reach for a book with an interesting orange spine, Sasuke advised her not to. It was only when she took a closer look did she recognize that familiar spine from the books their teacher, Mr. Kakashi, read to himself when he was too lazy to teach the class.

Her lips formed a small "O" in realization and instantly pulled back her hand at the memories of their graying teaching covering his mouth to stifle his perverted giggles.

"Icha-Icha Paradise?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Yeah," Sasuke answered, turning his attention to her for a second before diving back into Naruto's computer desk. "You know the first time I came into Naruto's room it was quite a shock to me too. He's a total slob and I wondered why his room was the cleanest area in his house. But then I realized that he had to at least keep his little sanctuary of books safe and that meant cleaning the rest of his bedroom."

Hinata nodded even and didn't know how to feel. It wasn't like she was feeling uneasy from Naruto's interest in adult material, but more like she was feeling uneasy because she didn't care at all. Was that normal when you have a crush on someone?

"Dammit, did he throw everything away when school ended? There isn't a pen anywhere!" Sasuke muttered to himself, moving from the computer desk to Naruto's deflated backpack in the closest in search for the elusive writing instrument.

Hinata smiled faintly at Sasuke's antics and that's when Hinata felt something heavy in her hands and she looked down. She was still holding onto Naruto's strange pair of boxer shorts with the little frogs on it. All of a sudden, the corners of her mouth started to drop as the underwear seemed to serve as a personal (not to mention _ugly_ ) sign that she still didn't feel right.

What was wrong with her?

She heard someone approaching and looked up again to see that Sasuke was very close. His dark eyes were concentrated on her and she could feel her gasp getting caught in her throat.

"I found a pen in my bag," he said, handing it to her and she quickly began rewriting the note.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Sasuke told Hinata's back that he'd go downstairs to make sure Naruto and Kiba would remain on the bottom floor so that she could leave through the bathroom window when she was done. He heard her mumble a soft "Okay" and grabbed a towel from his duffle bag and put it around his neck, just for show when he got downstairs from his "long shower."

When he left, Hinata had yet to turn around to look at him and he gripped the towel until he felt the pain of his nails digging into the palms of his hands. Yet another opportunity he had wasted.

* * *

Ino was making her way around the house when she got her backpack caught on some bushes.

"That's the last time I agree to carry the group's belongings," she said, trying to free herself from the bush's iron grip.

Without warning, she felt a hand envelope her mouth while another hand yanked on her so hard that the bush was nearly ripped out of the ground.

* * *

At the side of Naruto's house, Sakura was trying to find a way if she could climb up the rainspout to get a better view of the upstairs window. After multiple failed attempts, she shimmied herself down and admitted defeat.

"Well that didn't work," she said, before stopping in her tracks when a twig snapped.

She turned around and expected to see Ino or Tenten, or even better – Hinata – when she came face to face with dead air.

"Ino…?" Sakura asked weakly. "Tenten, is that you?"

The pinkette started to panic at the sound of another twig snapping. But this time, it sounded like it was coming from behind her.

She ran towards the front of the house when she crashed into something. Or someone.

Sakura sat up, shaking her head, and managed to let out a short-lived scream when her eyes were able to focus long enough to see a giant palm edging towards her face…

* * *

Tenten rubbed her shoulders when she started to shiver uncontrollably.

 _That's strange; I thought I heard someone yell_.

She was peering into one of the windows, trying to get a better look at the room she was observing. There wasn't any sign of movement so she deduced that Hinata most likely wasn't in there. Suddenly a flash of movement in her peripherals made her turn her head but she continued to see nothing inside. That's when Tenten realized that the movement wasn't coming from inside the house, but was the reflection of someone coming towards her.

Someone terribly annoying.

"What are you doing here!" were her last words before she became a victim too.


	5. Catch and Release

When Sasuke reached the bottom step, he could see that Kiba and Naruto were wrestling each other for what looked like a Pizza Pop. Sasuke wasn't interested in their predicament in the least and rolled his eyes when he saw that Naruto was still wearing that stupid Hawaiian shirt and the hole-infested pair of shorts that needed to be censored before anyone's retinas started to burn. The only thing that was keeping him at ease was the sight of Kiba in his regular attire although he was still holding onto the Swiffer Wet Jet.

 _Why is he still holding onto the!_ – And those were the only words that came into Sasuke's mind before he slipped.

And fell hard.

Maybe Kiba was right. Maybe Sasuke's spatial awareness was a little off.

While Sasuke was lying flat on his stomach trying not to move an inch, as the pain that shot up his funny bone set in, he could hear Kiba groaning in the background.

"Arrrrgh! Did you just slip on the floor? I wasn't finished cleaning that one spot!"

 _Thanks for your concern,_ Sasuke thought sourly, slowly picking himself up and inspecting the damage. Sasuke noted that he had a sore elbow, a bruised ego, and a broken heart (making a mental note to never mention that last symptom to anyone).

Looking down at his clothes, he could also see that he had a wet shirt. Great.

The Uchiha grudgingly took off his t-shirt and wondered what he was going to wear since Hinata was probably taking off with his clothes at that moment.

"Naruto, when is your laundry finished? I think I need to – "

And the bell rang just as he was walking past the front door. Was there anything else that wanted to interrupt him?

Sasuke practically tore off the door when he opened it, hoping to greet the annoying intruder with an Uchiha patented glare to scare them off and make himself feel a little bit better. Unfortunately, things weren't going his way that night and his narrowed eyes grew wide as he subconsciously crossed his arms over his torso.

Was this some twisted fan girl offering? If it was, it wasn't a very good one.

Sakura, Ino, and Tenten were all standing on the doorstep, which wouldn't be so unusual, if they weren't handcuffed to one another! Only Sasuke wished they were also blindfolded because they just received a great view of his naked upper half.

Sakura looked like she had been cleaning out the rain gutters along the house. Her clothes had smudges of what appeared to be mud with leaves sticking to the wet spots of her sweater. Tenten and Ino looked about the same way except Tenten was less dirty and Ino had leaves clinging to the straps of her backpack that stuck out like an unusual pair of wings.

It wasn't too long before Kiba and Naruto were behind him, taking in the sight, and laughing at the girls for their sullen faces.

"You'll never guess who joined Neighborhood Patrol," said Sakura, after the boys had finally calmed down.

Before they could question her further, a looming figure emerged from the shadows, adding some extra creepiness to the whole ordeal, and revealed itself to be…!

"Sai?" asked Sasuke, who at this point finally let his arms fall to his sides. "What are you doing here?"

Their school had a reputation for taking on some of the most severe social rejects. For example, that one kid Kisame who managed to somehow tan himself so badly that he turned blue instead of orange. However, no one could compete with Sai. He had transferred to the school during the second semester and it was clear that he had no basic knowledge concerning human interaction. Though everyone later found out, through Ino of course, that he had experienced some childhood trauma that made it awkward for the boy to talk to people and show his emotions. However, the only thing it didn't explain was his peculiar fashion style of midriff bearing tops.

Eventually everyone learned to accept Sai despite his oddities and watched with slight amusement as he tried fitting in through his collection of outdated self-help books. In fact, it was those books that got him into this position. He had read somewhere that said people respected individuals in uniform and it seemed like Sai hadn't told anyone about his latest venture: joining Konoha's Neighborhood Patrol.

If anyone still hadn't guessed, he was a guy who patrolled the neighborhood.

Sai smiled his strange little smile and said, "I got a call from an old woman about a possible disturbance. When I arrived at the scene I found these three girls going around your house. It certainly looked like a robbery to me, especially since the lady with pink hair looked like she was trying to get onto your roof."

Ino and Tenten shot their friend a strange look that said "Was that really necessary?" while Naruto pointed out an important point.

"Sai, you know all of us. Why did you refer to Sakura as the 'lady in pink'?"

Sai pulled out another book from God knows where and proceeded to tell them, "It says in the Neighborhood Patrol Handbook that favoritism is frowned upon and each patrol officer should treat each case objectively. Now Mr. Uzumaki, do you know these young ladies?"

"Well no duh!"

"Now would you say that they could cause any harm to the neighborhood or endanger the people inhabiting it?"

Kiba was about to say yes when he saw Ino flash him the most menacing look he had ever received.

"No, they're perfectly safe," he managed to squeak.

"Alright then," said Sai, another strange smile growing on his face. “Don’t do anything like this again and Neighborhood Patrol won’t have to interfere with your activities.”

Then he released the girls and walked off; whistling a merry tune that someone had taught him as he spun the handcuffs on one hand.

As we walked off, Naruto, Kiba, and Sasuke didn't have the girls blocking their full view of him anymore and could see that Sai had also cut his Neighborhood Patrol shirt and vest to reveal his midriff.

Well that was random…

"Do you want to come in?" The offer surprisingly came from Kiba who wanted to smack himself at the idea of cleaning up Naruto's house, for the third time that night, but even he pitied Sakura, Ino, and Tenten with their disheveled appearances.

"It's okay," replied Ino, rubbing her sore wrists before brushing the leaves off. "We're about to leave soon anyways. It's been one crazy night."

"But what are you guys doing all across Konoha?"

The girls looked at each other before saying, "We got lost." But it sounded more like a question than a statement.

"But we still have to find Hinata. We kind of lost her around this area and we were looking around the neighbourhood," said Tenten, hoping that she was giving out just enough information without blowing their cover.

By the looks of Naruto's and Kiba's worried expressions, they seemed to believe every word she was saying. On the other hand, Sasuke looked like he knew more than he was leading on.

"Sorry, we haven't seen her at all. Did you see her when you went out back, Sasuke?" asked Naruto.

"Hn," was Sasuke's reply and Kiba was suggesting that they should call Sai back and file a missing person's report. Sakura, Ino, and Tenten were trying to persuade him that that was a little drastic and the idea was only let go once they heard a quiet "I'm right here!" from behind them.

Sasuke blinked, wondering how Hinata had managed to creep around Naruto's house while Sai was making his rounds. He was close to complimenting her on her stealth when he noticed that he was, once again, half naked and subtly positioned himself behind Naruto and Kiba when everyone rushed to the shy Hyuuga's side.

"Hinata, we were so worried!" exclaimed Sakura, moving in for a hug when Naruto intervened and delivered an embrace of his own.

"Whoa, and to think you were missing! Don't do that again, Hinata, or else one of us might really start to miss you!"

Naruto winked at Sasuke when he said this, earning himself a glare from said friend, but the girls didn't catch this as they looked at each other with all-knowing smiles. The girls were certain that Naruto felt the same way about their timid friend more than ever. However, anyone who was looking at Hinata would notice that her expression was completely uncaring and she didn't even bat an eye with Naruto's arm around her shoulders.

When the girls made their goodbyes, Naruto stood by the door with Sasuke and bumped him lightly on the shoulder.

"It's a shame that you two didn't get together but isn't it funny that she showed up out of the blue? Maybe it's a sign that something might happen!"

"Tch. Whatever, I'm going to take a shower…I mean another shower," he said correcting himself, closing the door and making his way back upstairs.

 _Like anything is going to happen now,_ thought Sasuke.

* * *

The girls waited until they were all seated at the very back of the bus before interrogating Hinata about her dare. Their repressed questions seemed to come out in a single flood of excitement after they looked around to see if anyone they knew was accompanying them.

"Did you complete it?"

"Did Sasuke find you?"

"What took you so long to get out?"

"Find any juicy gossip?"

"What was up with Naruto's pants?"

And pertaining to the last question, they all asked at once, "DID YOU GET THE BOXER SHORTS?"

Hinata nodded and pulled out the boxer shorts from her bra, initiating an attack of grabby fingers who wanted an inspection of the prize. For once, Hinata was glad she had a bigger cup size compared to her other friends or else she never would have been able to sneak the underwear past the boys, especially the owner. She also felt fortunate because her pajamas had dried in time for her to leave or else she never would have made it out of the house without a million questions as to why she was wearing the Uchiha's clothes. Now that would have been uncomfortable.

"Oh my God, Hinata, you did it! And did you leave the note too?"

Hinata nodded once more and the girls began to squeal again, earning them disapproving looks from the few people on the bus.

"Wow, this night was awesome even if we got cuffed by Sai," said Tenten.

"Don't forget the pain I had to endure with you guys on my back," reminded Sakura.

"Hey, what are you guys complaining about? Hinata just did a courageous thing and I think that this is a day to celebrate! Well done Hinata, you've had your first taste of the wild side," Ino grinned, her arm over the Hyuuga heiress who was blushing uncontrollably.

She decided she wouldn't tell them about her little rash decision back at the house until she received a response.

* * *

When Sasuke went back to Naruto's room, he spotted a bright splash of colour on Naruto's organized bed and saw that it was Naruto's hideous, green boxer shorts with the pink frogs. Instantly, an alarm went off in his head.

Going through his duffle bag, he also came to the realization that his boxer shorts were gone, but Hinata had put back the clothes he gave to her during their little incident in the bathroom. He picked his clothes up, when all of a sudden, he saw a piece of paper slip from underneath his bundle of clothes. Sasuke picked it up to read and as he did, Sasuke's face started to burn like a cherry tomato.

* * *

_Sasuke Uchiha,_

_It's been a fun night and I know you'll have lots more fun during the summer because you'll never know when that one special girl will make her move! I've made mine but now it's your turn if you want a certain little something back._

_Hyuuga Hinata_

* * *

Sasuke's mind was currently shutting down as he was trying to register the fact that Hinata had panty raided him. And she had chosen him over Naruto. Naruto! The biggest crush of her life! He knew this was an opportunity not to be wasted and he was definitely going to make a move, unlike the last time.

But first he hid the note at the bottom of his duffle bag and headed towards the bathroom for a much needed cold shower.

* * *

:-:-EPILOGUE-:-:

Sasuke didn't know what move to make, especially when he had to top Hinata's breaking and entering and adventures in panty raiding. Not being the romantic or flashy type of guy, he simply wooed the girl by showing up at her house a couple of days later and asked her to be his girlfriend. But since it was Sasuke, he managed to do it in an offhanded way (only because Sakura, Ino, and Tenten happened to be eavesdropping on their conversation through the door of course).

Ino's mouth fell open in shock. She couldn't help but feel a bit jealous that whenever she did something extreme, she'd get into trouble while her friend got a man. Somehow Hinata was even more compulsive and daring than her and Ino couldn’t be prouder.

Tenten felt deceived. She thought that out of everyone, Hinata would have told her that she stole Sasuke's boxers instead of Naruto's. Don't misunderstand her though; she was happy for Hinata but…WOW. She did not see this coming. No one did.

Sakura felt Inner Sakura get sucker punched in the face. But when she thought about it long and hard, if it were anyone other than Hinata, she would have held a grudge. Thinking that Naruto needed to be aware of this historic event, she texted him the good news.

Naruto went through a whole series of emotional reactions, all conveying the feelings of happiness, but in different ways. He was speechless, he bounced off the walls in ecstasy, he cried big crocodile tears for his best friend, and came very close to soiling himself before Kiba kicked him in annoyance. But nothing the Inuzuka did could stop Naruto's tirade of utter joy.

Kiba was howling in delight like some wild canine when he found out. He was no where near as insane in comparison to Naruto's reactions but he was proud of their friend nonetheless. As the loyal and protective type, Kiba vowed to protect the couple from Sasuke's feral fan girls and most importantly from…

Neji got a rude awakening when he arrived home from his afternoon training. He was expecting to take Tenten out on a date after she had some girl time with Hinata, but he did not expect to see his cousin sitting with the Uchiha brat while her friends were... were they cheering?

Neji was looking forward to karate chopping Sasuke's neck and watching as his stupid head with his stupid duck-butt hairstyle was rolling on the stupid floor as he cackled in stupid vengeance. That was his plan until Tenten pulled him to one side and threatened to tell everyone in Konoha that Neji allowed her to practice her cosmetology skills on him, this including the attempted French braids, elegant up does, and perms that she had botched with incriminating photo evidence...

Neji swallowed his pride since he knew better then to open his mouth under blackmail, especially if it was his sorta-not-girlfriend calling the shots. This was why he hated the Uchiha so much: Sasuke had walked in on Tenten and Neji when he was modelling her latest hair attempt. Unfortunately, Tenten's influence over the Hyuuga men ran short with…

Hiashi had impeccable timing and came home an hour early from work when he sensed that that boy with the wayward interest in his daughter was closer than he had been before. Hiashi was livid when he found the offending Uchiha in his house with his daughter and chased the boy out of the house with a garden rake that he had retrieved from the garage.

Sakura, Ino, and Tenten tried persuading Neji to calm Hiashi down but he absolutely refused.

"You can use those photos against me until the Uchiha scum actually earns my respect but you cannot convince me to talk my uncle out of his angry stupor."

When that didn't work, it was Hinata that convinced her cousin to make Hiashi reconsider murdering her first boyfriend. One look into those pleading eyes and Neji caved. The fact that he almost killed her in middle school still made the boy feel guilty. (He pushed her one time in the parking lot, stumbling back into the pathway of a car, and was nearly run over.)

 _Dammit!_ thought Neji, clenching his fists while taking calming breaths as he walked down the front steps to rationalize with his crazed uncle.

* * *

It took a lot of work and several weeks for the doting father to tolerate the idea of his eldest daughter dating, but it was all worth it in the end.

"Father, I'll be back before midnight so you don't have to wait up. Goodbye!"

Hiashi looked out the window, wanting to gag and strangle something at the same time, as he saw his daughter give the Uchiha a small peck before they went off on their way.

"Now was that really that difficult, uncle?" asked Neji.

"I guess not," Hiashi replied wearily, tearing himself from the window to prevent witnessing anything else between Hinata and Sasuke.

"At least I still have Hanabi. She's still too young to date," he said.

"Uncle…about that…Hanabi is…?"

"What? What is it?"

"Never mind. I just thought it was strange how we haven't heard from her in two weeks."

"That's right. We're supposed to receive a postcard every week, aren't we?"

And Hiashi left, going to check the mail.

As Neji tucked the postcard deeper into his pocket, he thought it was for the best that his uncle didn't find out that the all girls' summer camp wasn't just for girls, as Hanabi had originally told them. If Hiashi saw the picture taped to the postcard of Hanabi holding hands with some odd hipster boy, he was certain that his uncle would go what normal teenagers his age said, bat-shit insane.


End file.
